Sunday, January 25, 2009
By BRIAN FORTNER
The Express-Times
PHILLIPSBURG
| The Phillipsburg Stateliners entered Saturday's dual meet as the rare
favorite in their annual border war against arch-rival Easton.
All P'burg had to do was
avoid the dreaded upsets that the visiting Red Rovers have become known for
when the two teams meet.
Easton has dominated the
series, winning 10 straight before this year -- the last nine meetings being
decided by a 32-point margin of victory.
In each of those wins, it
seemed the Red Rovers won a tossup or two and someone in the lineup pulled off
a shocker.
P'burg 285-pounder Jim
Tersigni turned the tables.
The Stateliners senior
heavyweight shocked the packed house at The Pit with a 6-4 overtime victory
over Easton's Justin Grant. Grant entered the match as the top-ranked
285-pounder in The Express-Times regions.
"It was the
atmosphere," Tersigni said. "You're in the Pit, with 1,000 people
screaming. It was great to come up with the win."
Tersigni's performance
earned him the Brad Weaver Memorial Award given to the match's outstanding
wrestler.
More importantly, Tersigni's
victory gave the 'Liners a 24-3 lead with seven bouts left and helped P'burg
end the decade-long drought to the Red Rovers, 30-21.
Jimmy wrestled a great
tactical match," P'burg coach Jason Magditch said. "Jimmy's up and
down and when he wrestles a smart tactical match he's much better off. When he
tries to get crazy is when he gets himself in trouble."
"I know Grant is a real
good wrestler," Tersigni said. "He's pretty aggressive and I just
knew I had to be ready for anything."
Grant led 1-0 after two
periods, but Tersigni tied the bout with an escape in the first 20 seconds of
the third.
The Red Rover senior went
ahead with a takedown on the edge of the mat with 1:01 left in the bout, but
made what turned into a tactical mistake, cutting Tersigni loose on the restart
to make it a 3-2 match.
Tersigni made him pay, turning
a Grant headlock attempt into a takedown of his own and a 4-3 lead with 47
seconds left.
Grant escaped to tie the
match and send it into overtime only to give up the winning takedown 24 seconds
into the extra period.
"Coach Mags and coach
(Scott) Silvas were yelling to watch the headlock," Tersigni said. "I
knew he was coming with it and I just slipped it and the crowd went nuts."
The Stateliner fans could
smell victory for the first time in over a decade as the two heavyweights
embraced in the center of the mat.
"Grant is real good for
a second-year wrestler," Magditch said. "He's very active for a big
guy and he likes to throw the headlock and take you to your back. Jimmy was
staying up high at first and we were telling him to watch the throw and slip
the headlock if he throws it. Grant is tough, but Jimmy has a lot of experience
on his side. He really came through."
There were other Stateliner
heroes at The Pit on Saturday, but none were as big as Jimmy-T.
Brian Fortner can be reached
by e-mail at sports@express-times.com.